In the Soviet Union, a movement led by fanatical rebel Vladimir Radchenko (Daniel von Bargen) overthrows the current government and makes alarming threats against the U.S. and its allies. Lt. Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) and his friend, Lt. Peter “Weaps” Ince (Viggo Mortensen), are called away from Hunter’s daughter’s birthday party when events escalate. Hunter is summoned to the submarine U.S.S. Alabama by Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) as a last minute replacement for his Executive Officer (XO) who has come down with appendicitis. Ramsey is a somewhat crusty career military man and has been a captain for nearly thirty years, while Hunter is brilliant and capable but has little combat experience.

The Alabama departs for waters around the Soviet Union,
transporting a full arsenal of nuclear missiles several times more
powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Captain
Ramsey’s style of leadership strikes Hunter as needlessly taxing,
particularly his insistence on running an emergency drill while Hunter
and the crew are putting out a deadly fire in the kitchen. The longer
the crew stays below the surface, the greater the tension among the men
becomes. An Emergency Action Message from U.S. Naval Command informs
them that Radchenko’s forces have seized control of Russia’s nuclear
arsenal, are armed with the launch codes and are preparing to launch
the missiles at the U.S.

The Alabama’s crew is instructed to move the ship to firing depth and
launch pre-emptively at the Russian target. As they attempt to do
this, they encounter a Russian Akula class submarine, which they
engage. Afterwards, as they head away they begin to receive another
message from the U.S. but, unfortunately, their radio buoy was
destroyed during the attack and the message is incomplete, with no
clear instructions. Captain Ramsey’s instincts are to ignore the
message fragment and continue on their previous assignment to launch
the missile strike, which would unleash a nightmarish nuclear attack
upon Russia. Hunter strongly disagrees, urging the captain to delay
action until they can bring the sub close enough to the surface so they
can receive the complete message. Their agreement is necessary for
them to proceed, but their violent disagreement leads Ramsey to attempt
to immediately replace Hunter with someone who will give their assent
to their course of action, which flies in the face of military
regulations.

As a result, Hunter has Ramsey removed from his command and has him
locked in his quarters. This event causes a schism within the crew as
people loyal to Ramsey attempt to support him and regain the bridge.
Meanwhile, Hunter’s attempts to reach the surface are continually
thwarted by Russian submarines they are forced to engage. All the
while, the clock counts down as Radchenko’s missiles get closer and
closer to launch time.

Director Tony Scott’s taut submarine drama has all the hallmarks of a
Jerry Bruckheimer production: a large cast of recognizable faces,
elaborate production design, slick, polished special effects, and
flashy imagery. One particularly overdone visual flourish turns up
during the rain-drenched submarine launch sequence. Does every
Bruckheimer film have to have sequences with sparks showering down from
unseen welders? Is there a great demand for welders who will work
outside at night in the rain? The scene already has enough production
value: a torrential downpour, a massive amount of cast members, a
submarine placed within the frame with the sun rising just over the
horizon. It’s extra touches like these that make some of Bruckheimer’s
imagery resemble car commercials more than dramatic films. The
submarine launch sequence also has one extra speech that the film does
not need. We’ve already had Ramsey’s discussion with Hunter, his
speech to the officers, and a speech within the same scene as he walks
through the rain among his men. Just as the scene has reached an
emotional climax and Ramsey has revved the men up for the mission, he
walks up to a podium and makes another speech into a microphone that
has no protection from the rain. (I don’t imagine Captain Ramsey has
seen “Carrie.”) Scott clearly wants to get the audience pumped up and
excited about the mission, but by that point we’re already there.

The script by Michael Schiffer and Richard P. Henrick dramatizes an
intellectual exercise, presenting a no-win dilemma under extremely
stressful circumstances. A case can strongly be made for either
Ramsey’s or Hunter’s point of view. Deciding which of them is right
is solely dependent on the outcome. The conflicted crew and the
captain being removed echoes “The Caine Mutiny,” but “Crimson Tide” has
a greater degree of tension as the events occur during combat, not
during a training exercise. The cast is top notch. Hackman and
Washington make the material crackle with fire and intensity, helping
to create a gripping experience. Hackman’s strength is that he doesn’t
play the captain as a two-dimensional baddie, but as a believable, not
un-likeable person. While Ramsey’s intensity escalates into threats of
murder and actual violence, the circumstances around these events are
so tense that his behavior does not stretch credibility. Quentin
Tarantino, rather famously, did an uncredited re-write on the script
and his bits stick out quite clearly, shoehorning in references to
submarine movies, “Silver Surfer” comic books and “Star Trek,” and
discussions on the breeding of Lippizaner stallions. They add a little
bit of offbeat humor, shaking up the tone of the drama a bit and make
the film’s trajectory not so direct.

The epilogue featuring the military’s evaluation of the events aboard
the Alabama feels too polite and too free of consequence. It’s the
kind of finale that satisfies U.S. military advisors who sign off on
the script and allow Bruckheimer access to their subs and military
hardware but it feels too pat a note on which to end.

Director Scott and his director of photography Darius Wolski use
brightly colored gels to differentiate rooms on the sub, giving the
interiors some visual variety to accent mood. It’s a stylized,
unrealistic look, but it works. The missile arming room is colored red
(appropriately enough) with the radio room bathed in green, and bright
white light in other areas. The BD release is a worthwhile upgrade
from the standard definition DVD. The detailed production design and
color-saturated photography are well served by this release. The
2.40:1 image is crisp, detailed and stable, even during some of the
action sequences that feature quick cutting. Scenes that are bathed in
deep red light occasionally bleed, but the greens and blues are
extremely vivid and beautifully presented. The crisp detail enhances
your sense of the actors’ performances as you can see more of the fine
lines in their expressions and the beads of sweat dripping down their
faces.

The 5.1 PCM track is excellent. Submarine movies are a sound
designer’s dream, giving them a huge range of opportunities to use the
multiple channels to enhance the atmosphere and create a sonic
environment that gives the audience the feeling of being within the
submarine. The creaks and screeches of metal under pressure as the sub
heads down to crush depth increases the tension as does the crisp, well
mixed sound effects and music track. The LFE channel is well utilized
for torpedo explosions and adds weight to the sounds of the hull under
pressure.

The BD replicates the bonus materials included on the initial standard
definition DVD release. The two featurettes are short but
entertaining. “All Access” mostly captures on-set horseplay, hosted by
the affable George Dzundza, but it does show Hackman and Washington
rehearsing for their big confrontation scene. “The Making of Crimson
Tide” runs around 20 minutes and features some satisfying
behind-the-scenes footage, including shots of the set which was built
on a gimbal, enabling it to replicate the tilting motions of a real
sub, as well as some revealing shots of the model work done for the
submarine battle scene. It also includes comments from all the key
personnel, including Jerry Bruckheimer’s longtime co-producer, the late
Don Simpson. A few deleted scenes are included that are brief but
worthwhile, the best being a fun (probably Tarantino-penned) joke told
by the Chief of the Boat (George Dzundza). An extended edition of the
film was released a few years back, which included some of these
scenes, as well as additional scene trims. That version runs 7 minutes
longer. The scenes here are sourced from a low-resolution source and
are presented in 2.40 letterboxed, non-anamorphic standard definition.
While I don’t have too strong an issue with the studio deciding to
match the content of the first DVD release, (though they ideally should
have included all the extras of the later edition, with a seamless
branching version of the film with both original and extended cuts),
but they should have at least upgraded the deleted scenes to HD.